Cancer or Heart Disease: Which Kills More?

Question: My mother is scared to death of breast cancer, but she doesn’t eat right or exercise. I keep telling her she should be more worried about her heart than her breast, but she says that's baloney. She’s 78. What do you say?

Dr. Hibberd's answer:

The concerns your mother has are similar to many women. Most women do not understand that the incidence of heart disease is far greater than breast cancer.

In order to reduce her heart disease incidence, she would be well advised to listen to you and maintain a healthy diet and activity regimen. Perhaps she requires a physician consultation to reassure her of this as well as to reassure her that she does not have breast cancer.